Notable bird sightings. A subset of my physical journal.

See also: Birds of Rex Manor

2022

May

• 20 May (Los Gatos, CA, Los Gatos Creek Trail): Western Tanager: bright yellow bird overhead, landed and poked around an oak tree.
• 19 May (Mountain View, CA, Community School of Music and Art): Bald Eagle: soaring high overhead, chased by a crow. Clear white head and tail, mottled mostly brown body with white flecks.

April

• 24 April (Henry Coe State Park, CA – along road to Frog Lake): Spotted Towhee: noticed unique song and flash of red along road – in bushes and hopping around.

2021

April

• 10 April (Palo Alto, CA – at the intersection of Middlefield and San Antonio): Bald Eagle: one eagle seen soaring overhead, from our car. Clearly a large bird and at one angle saw the tell-tale white feathers. Tried to follow it but it moved quickly towards the bay and we lost it.
• 13 April (Pearson-Arastradero Preserve, Palo Alto, CA): Bald Eagle: one eagle flying over a field and followed by crows into some trees. Later on saw it up close flying away from the trees and towards I-280.

2020

January

• 26 January (Shoreline Park, Mountain View, CA): Bald Eagle: two eagles soaring high above Shoreline Golf Course and Shoreline Amphitheater. At times in a swirling pattern like vultures and at others riding the winds higher. It took a few minutes of observation to positively identify their hallmark white/bald heads. After that I got audio confirmation as well – listening in on their conversation before they continued out of sight. This marks the third year in a row of a January Bald Eagle sighting in Mountain View! Amazing.

2019

August

• 19 August (Rengstorff Park, Mountain View, CA): Blue-gray Gnatcatcher hopping on the ground and a few trees looking for a meal
• 13 August
  • Peregrine Falcon (Sonora Peak, CA) overhead and scanning low to the ground
  • Some sort of sparrow or bunting (Sonora Peak, CA) hopping and flying about, picking off insects
  • Humming bird came across Blue Canyon Lake to check me out and them zoom away. It moved too fast for me to get a specific ID. These highly energetic creatures thrive even at 10,000+ ft. Amazing!

July

• 14 July (Point Reyes National Seashore, CA, north of Bolinas Point)
  • Osprey: pair hovering looking for fish just off the coast; periodically they would call to each other or rotate positions
  • Brown Pelican: numerous; flying together high in the winds in one direction, or low over the water in the other direction
• 14 July (Bolinas, CA): in the back yard of a house
  • Tree Swallow: had a nest in a hollowed out branch of a eucalyptus tree; an adult was constantly catching insects and feeding them to at least 2 chicks; second, smaller adult was there intermittently
  • Bushtit: had a nest in a fairly small hole in a branch of a eucalyptus tree; three adult birds
• 02 July (Rengstorff Park, Mountain View, CA): got in a short nature walk before taking my youngest to preschool
  • Black Phoebe: foraging on the grass, fairly close up view
  • Western Bluebird: we were surprised to see a bright blue bird coming near us as it went tree to tree

June

• 13 June – Peregrine Falcon (Sequoia National Park, CA): I was about halfway up Moro Rock. I heard a screech and looked over the railing to see a pair of falcons streaking across the rock face. They sailed across the way to another rock cliff, possibly to their nest.
• 05 June – Bald Eagle (Mountain View, CA): a single bird effortlessly soaring above the San Antonio shopping center. A crow gave chase for a bit to alert others but eventually gave up.
• 04 June – Northern Flicker (Fremont Older Open Space, Cupertino, CA): I had heard the short plaintive call of the Northern Flicker many times before and I actually thought it must be a bigger bird of prey. On this day I both saw & heard the bird – enough to identify it using the Merlin Bird ID app. Also the distinctive patterns (stripes on the back and spots on the under side) help to identify this large woodpecker.

May

• 30 May – American Crow (Mountain View, CA): a crow stashed a pizza crust in a rain gutter, presumably to save it for later and keep it away from other birds. Also noted in Birds of Rex Manor

January

• 23 January – Bald Eagle (Mountain View, CA): a single eagle flying high above Theuerkauf Elementary School, riding the winds. Also noted in Birds of Rex Manor

2018

March

• 04 March (Sierra Vista Open Space, San Jose, CA)
  • American Kestrel: hovering in one place with strong winds; dove straight down several times but did not appear to catch anything
  • Hermit Thrush: several seen on grassy hillside identified by sound using bird app

February

• 23 February – Northern Shoveler (Bay Trail, Sunnyvale, CA): group of 10-15 in water, a protected marsh area
• 18 February (Almaden Quicksilver County Park, San Jose, CA)
  • Dark-Eyed Junco: at Wood Trail parking lot and along the trail; Oregon variety
  • White-Tailed Kite: on Wood Trail at a clearing; sailed on strong winds and moved perch to perch among the tree tops; nervous raven cawed nearby

January

• 20 January – Bald Eagle (Mountain View, CA): two eagles soaring above our house on a windy day. Didn’t flap wings and quickly sailed out of view towards the bay. This was the first time I’d seen a wild bald eagle outside of Alaska. Also noted in Birds of Rex Manor
• 12-13 January – Black Vulture (Savannah, GA): Flying along the roadside from Hinesville to Savannah. Overhead view from river boat on the Savannah River. Compared to a Turkey Vulture (very common around where I live), these birds have shorter wings, a much shorter tail and do not rock while flying.
• 13 January (Savannah River, Savannah, GA)
  • Brown Pelican: flying overhead
  • Double-Crested Cormorant: flying low along the water and perched on old piers and tree branches

2017

November

• 22 November (Pinnacles National Park, CA)
  • Acorn Woodpecker: several seen poking holes in a tree for storing acorns
  • Bushtit: top of lower Bear Gulch Cave – flying around boulders, holding onto the moss
  • California Quail: numerous; along the roadside, barely getting out of the way of cars
  • Northern Harrier (outside Gilroy, CA): few seen hovering over fields
  • Steller’s Jay: screeching and moving from tree to tree
  • Western Scrub-Jay: hanging out near picnic tables
  • Yellow-Billed Magpie: flight pattern & long tail visible but didn’t get a good look at the bill or hear its call; also seen along Highway 25

May

• 19 May – American White Pelican (Marsh at San Antonio Rd., Palo Alto, CA): some in the water, others flying overhead in a group – soaring and not needing to flap wings much

April

• 22 April – Common Tern (Shoreline Lake and Park, Mountain View, CA): flying overhead; lots of wind, not much flapping of wings; very vocal
• 15 April – Osprey (Coyote Point Park, San Mateo, CA): near the bay; seen gliding overhead, did not flap wings; pointed wings

2012

• Barn Owl (Palo Alto High School, Palo Alto, CA): seen a few times; the owl lived in the tower – saw it while playing soccer at night (between 7 and 10 PM)
• circa December – California Condor (between Soledad, CA and Salinas, CA): seen soaring above US Highway 101, on the drive back from SoCal (my parents were driving so I had time to safely bird-gaze). Didn’t get a great look (no binoculars and the birds were high), but the wings were clearly longer and the bird was quite large

Various Dates

• Mitred Conure Parrot (Las Palmas Park, Sunnyvale, CA): non-native – possibly escaped pets? Seen in the trees feeding and socializing above the play structure
• Wild Turkey (San Jose, CA) seen along the roadside of US-101; Flocks seen at: Rancho San Antonio Open Space (Los Altos, CA), Fremont Older Open Space (Cupertino, CA) and along the roadside in New Almaden, CA

Common in Mountain View

These birds are very commonly seen around my house in Mountain View, CA

• 03 March 2018 – Lesser Goldfinch: looking for insects on a rose bush; yellow front and back, with black cap head
• April 2017
  • American Robin: in small groups, they eat the berries on the bush on the back yard fence; one or more are lookouts and they sound the alarm if a person approaches
  • Northern Mockingbird: digging in dirt pile in the front yard; very good at copying other bird sounds and incorporating the sounds into its repertoire
• April 2016 – California Towhee: they take pieces of the newly landscaped plants (wooly thyme) for their nest
• various dates
  • American Crow: seen daily, foraging
  • Canada Goose: very common in Shoreline Park; watch out for goose poop on trail and grass
  • Common Raven: not so common around here but a few sightings, near Google headquarters or the marsh area at the end of Shoreline; signature call
  • Turkey Vulture: seen soaring, circling, often near Eucalyptus trees

Common in Petersburg, AK

These birds were seen, over many visits, in and around Petersburg, AK – (Southeast Alaska) on roads, trails, boats and from the big-windowed view of a family home.

• American Crow: they are smaller in Alaska than in my part of California
• Bald Eagle: they are everywhere – almost like pigeons! You can often hear them calling. Matures along with juveniles.
• Barrow’s Goldeneye
• Belted Kingfisher
• Bufflehead
• Common Loon
• Common Merganser
• Common Raven
• European Starling
• Harlequin Duck
• Long-Tailed Duck
• Pacific Loon
• Surf Scoter

Common on Kaua’i island, Hawai’i

I saw these birds on two family trips to Kauai in the summers of 2017 and 2019. Many of these birds are not very special – being both introduced to the islands and also just “everyday” type birds you can see with little effort. Nevertheless they are worth noting since I haven’t seen them elsewhere. Unfortunately many of the native Hawaiian birds no longer inhabit the lower areas of the island, due to disease and competition from introduced bird species – to see them you need to go higher into the mountains (4,000+ ft.) and nature reserves.

• Cattle Egrets: white mid-size birds with yellow bills. Seen foraging around heavy machinery along roadsides or in flocks on top of bushes
• Common Myna: indeed very common, sort of like a small blackbird you might see in urban settings. I saw one on a tree limb “back up” by flying up into the strong headwind and then letting the wind push it backwards and then it clutched a higher tree branch. That was a bird-first!
• Great Frigatebird: sailing high over the coast near Kapa’a
• Nēnē: Hawaiian goose, seen at Kilauea Lighthouse and a golf course in Lihue
• Red-crested Cardinal: an import from Brazil. The bright red head makes it quite a standout
• Red Junglefowl: roosters and chickens are all over Kaua’i. My brother said he once saw chickens coming out of Walmart!
• Sooty Tern
• White-tailed Tropicbird: sailing (without flapping wings) in the steady winds above the coast at Poipu
• Zebra Dove: seen looking for tortilla chip scraps inside Mariachi’s Mexican Restaurant in Kapa’a